An Historical and Analytical Survey of the Transcendental Etudes By
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AN HISTORICAL AND ANALYTICAL SURVEY OF THE TRANSCENDENTAL ETUDES BY SERGEI LIAPUNOV Igor Chernyshev, B.A., M.M. Dissertation Prepared for the Degree of DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS August 2007 APPROVED: Joseph Banowetz, Major Professor Adam Wodnicki, Committee Member Jeffrey Snider, Committee Member Lynn Eustis, Chair of the Graduate Performance Degrees Committee Graham Phipps, Director of Graduate Studies in the College of Music James C. Scott, Dean of the College of Music Sandra L. Terrell, Dean of the Robert B. Toulouse School of Graduate Studies Chernyshev, Igor. An historical and analytical survey of the Transcendental Etudes by Sergei Liapunov. Doctor of Musical Arts (Performance), August 2007, 41 pages, 32 musical examples, references, 19 titles. Sergei Mikhailovich Liapunov (1859-1924) was a distinguished Russian composer, pianist and teacher of the late 19th and early 20th century whose works are relatively unknown. His piano pieces were highly regarded and performed by pianists such as Konstantin Igumnov, Josef Hofmann, Josef Lhévinne, Ferruccio Busoni, and Vladimir Horowitz. However, they are rarely included in modern pianists’ repertoire both in Russia and abroad, and are often viewed merely for their historic significance. Works of Liapunov are characterized by a life-affirming character and monumental beauty largely inspired by the images of nature as well as the sounds of his native Russian folk songs and dances. His music rarely conveys the urgency or profound melancholy which is often seen in the music composed during the same period by Rachmaninoff and Scriabin. Liapunov continued and enriched the great traditions of Russian music started by Glinka and The Mighty Five. He did not discover bold new ways of composing, and at the same time did not succumb to the temptation of following contemporary musical trends. The Twelve Transcendental Etudes, op. 11, dedicated to the memory of Franz Liszt, are masterpieces of immense value both from a technical and artistic standpoint. Just like Liszt’s études, they were not designed merely to display virtuosity, but to demonstrate that the piano is capable of achieving orchestral sounds and tone painting. There is no doubt that the virtuosic style of Franz Liszt as well as the Russian Romantic tradition and folklore had the greatest influence on Liapunov’s Transcendental Etudes. It is also clear that Chopin’s works must have occupied a large part of his repertoire. This paper will examine both Russian and Western European influences on Liapunov’s style as demonstrated in this étude cycle. Copyright 2007 by Igor Chernyshev ii INTRODUCTION Sergei Mikhailovich Liapunov (1859-1924) was a distinguished Russian composer, pianist and teacher of the late 19th and early 20th century whose works are relatively unknown. His piano pieces were highly regarded and performed by pianists such as Konstantin Igumnov, Josef Hofmann, Josef Lhévinne, Ferruccio Busoni, and Vladimir Horowitz.1 However, they are rarely included in modern pianists’ repertoire both in Russia and abroad, and are often viewed merely for their historic significance. By composing works such as Transcendental Etudes, seven Preludes, a Piano Sonata, two Piano Concertos, and Rhapsody on Ukranian Themes for Piano and Orchestra, Liapunov made an important contribution to piano literature. Works of Liapunov are characterized by a life-affirming character and monumental beauty largely inspired by the images of nature as well as the sounds of his native Russian folk songs and dances. His music rarely conveys the urgency or profound melancholy which is often seen in the music composed during the same period by Rachmaninoff and Scriabin. Liapunov continued and enriched the great traditions of Russian music started by Glinka2 and The Mighty Five.3 He did not discover bold new ways of composing, and at the same time did not succumb to the temptation of following contemporary musical trends. Mikhail Shifman refers to Liapunov as “The Last of the Mohicans” of the Balakirev school.4 1 Shifman, Voprosy musykal’no-ispolnitel’skogo isskustva, p. 374. 2 Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857), mostly known for his operas, is considered by many the father of Russian music. 3 The Mighty Five or The Mighty Handful (Moguchaya Kuchka) is the title given by the music critic Vladimir Stasov to Mily Balakirev , Cesar Cui, Modest Mussorgsky Alexander Borodin and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. 4 Shifman. S. M. Liapunov, Ocherk Zhizni i Tvorchestva, p. 5. 1 The Twelve Transcendental Etudes, op. 11, dedicated to the memory of Franz Liszt, are masterpieces of immense value both from a technical and artistic standpoint. Russian musicologist B. R. Asafiev wrote: “These études contain all of the best qualities and techniques of Balakirev-Liapunov piano style.”5 While Mily Balakirev played an important role in Liapunov’s life and creative output, the works and pianism of Franz Liszt cannot be overlooked as an important element in his development as a composer. In the following chapters, I will examine both Russian and Western European influences on Liapunov’s style as demonstrated in his étude cycle. BIOGRAPHY OF LIAPUNOV Sergei Liapunov was born in Yaroslavl into a highly educated family. His father, Mikhail Liapunov (1820-1868), was an astronomer at the Kazan University, studied with a distinguished mathematician, N. I. Lobachevski, and in his last years served as the director of Demidov Lyceum in Yaroslavl. His older brother, Alexander Liapunov (1857-1918), is considered one of the greatest Russian mathematicians. His younger brother, Boris Liapunov (1862-1943), was a philologist and a member of the USSR Academy of Science.6 The mother of the composer, Sofia Liapunova, had a very broad education with music occupying her largest interest. In his autobiography, Liapunov wrote: My mother was a music amateur, and played the piano quite well. Nobody could be compared to her at least in our family. Her repertoire was small, but it included highly virtuosic pieces such as opera transcriptions by Liszt and Thalberg, Concerto in A Minor by Hummel, Sonata pathétique by Beethoven, etc. …. She generally expressed a much larger interest in music literature than most amateurs of that time.7 5 Asafiev, p. 263. 6 Shifman. S. M. Liapunov, Ocherk Zhizni i Tvorchestva, p. 7. 7 Shifman. pp. 7-8 (translated by Igor Chernyshev). 2 Sofia Liapunova discovered the musical gift of her son Sergei and took it upon herself to give him early piano lessons. After his father’s sudden death in 1868, she also had to assume the responsibility of general education for young Sergei. Sergei Liapunov spent most of his childhood in his mother’s estate in the village of Bolobonovo located in the Central Volga region. The picturesque images of nature, the country life-style, and the sounds of folk music had a profound influence in his development both as a person and a musician. In 1870 Liapunov’s family moved to Nizhniy Novgorod, where eleven-year-old Sergei continued his musical studies in the Gymnasium at the Imperial Music Society under the direction of pianist and composer V. Y. Villoing.8 During that time, he composed some of his early works, including a sonata for violin and piano that impressed Villoing very much. According to the memoirs of Liapunov’s daughter, Olga Liapunova, Villoing was unsuccessful in correcting some problems with his hand position, and this pedagogical mistake was probably the reason why Liapunov did not have a more extensive concert career in the future.9 During his time in Nizhniy Novgorod, Liapunov had the opportunity to attend concerts by Nikolai Rubinstein which left a lasting impression on the young musician. After graduating from the Gymnasium in 1878, Liapunov moved to Moscow and in the fall of the same year was accepted to the Moscow Conservatory for a major in piano performance and composition. During his five years there, he studied piano with V. I. Wilborg, Karl Klindworth, and Paul Pabst. Klindworth and Pabst were both former students of Franz Liszt. While he respected Pabst’s musicality, he later admitted that he 8 V. Y. Villoing was a nephew and a cousin of A. I. Villoing who taught both Nikolai and Anton Rubinstein. 9 Shifman, p. 9. 3 learned more from Klindworth in one year than from all of his other piano teachers combined. He consequently dedicated his piano sonata to Klindworth.10 Liapunov studied composition with Nikolai Hubert and Sergei Taneyev, a former student of Tchaikovsky.11 Taneyev, who dedicated much of his time studying the works of Renaissance and Baroque composers, became Liapunov’s most influential composition teacher. It is possible that the frequent occurrence of counterpoint in Liapunov’s works is due to Taneyev’s influence. In 1883 Liapunov graduated from the Moscow Conservatory with a Gold Medal. Even though Liapunov acquired an invaluable musical and pianistic foundation there, the Moscow Conservatory did not define his artistic taste. After the death of its founder Nikolai Rubinstein in 1881, the Moscow Conservatory was dominated mostly by German professors. Liapunov resented the “Teutonic” atmosphere in Moscow, and felt that Russian repertoire was significantly neglected. He gravitated more toward the music of The Mighty Five of St Petersburg, which at the time did not get much recognition in Moscow, and during the last years of his studies, Liapunov wrote that the true path for Russian music lay in St Petersburg.12 In 1884 Liapunov declined a teaching position at the Moscow Conservatory and traveled to St Petersburg to fulfill his life-long dream of getting close to the composers of The New Russian School, in particular to Balakirev. He met Balakirev, Rimsky- Korsakov, the Stasov brothers, Glazunov, and Liadov and immediately gained their respect after dazzling them with a performance of Balakirev’s Islamey. Balakirev was 10 Shifman, 11. 11 Some Western sources claim that Liapunov studied with Tchaikovsky himself, but there is no mention of it in any of the Russian sources that I found.